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Wednesday, May 15, 2019 | Your community newspaper since 1916

CITIZEN PHOTO BY JAMES DOYLE

Fill ‘er up A backhoe loads fill into a dumptruck at the construction site for a new Fire Hall No. 1 on Tuesday morning.

City OKs changes to budget oversight process Mark NIELSEN Citizen staff mnielsen@pgcitizen.ca City staff will be subject to what is being described as increased oversight when it comes to cost overruns. Council voted unanimously in favour on Monday night of a revised policy that will require staff to seek council’s permission to amend the operating budget once the cumulative total of differences from the original budget surpasses

five per cent of the total. The city’s operating budget sits at about $150 million, which would give staff $7.5 million worth of discretion. Once capital spending is include, the city’s budget for this year adds up to about $200 million. Previously, staff had up to $1 million of leeway per project provided they could find the money within the city’s reserves. Coun. Garth Frizzell, who chairs the finance and audit committee,

said during council discussion on he item that it left open the potential of giving staff discretion of up to $1 million “as many times as are needed.” Frizzell added that while staff would still likely have come back to council before that threshold is met, the new guideline will “set an exact rate where staff must come back to council.” “So if there is a need to spend $8 million right now in eight chunks, that could happen theoretically,

Those caught riding dirt bikes in places where they are not supposed to risk up to $1,000 in fines and then some, Prince George RCMP said Tuesday in response to a recent wave of complaints. RCMP said the detachment has received an increased number of reports from around the city over the last week about unregistered dirt bikes being ridden on streets and highways and being ridden aggressively on local walking trails. City bylaws prohibit motorized vehicles in city parks or on city trails and provincial legislation allows “incidental travel” across roads at controlled intersections for motorized off-road vehicles

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Fines for violators can easily add up to over $1,000 and the motorized vehicle can be seized. — RCMP statement such as dirt bikes, all-terrain vehicles and side-by-sides but only if they are registered and insured. According to ICBC, to ride an off-road vehicle on or across highways, you must have basic insurance.

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To ride one on forest service roads, you must have $200,000 in third party liability insurance. On all other Crown land, liability insurance is voluntary but recommended. “From experience, the majority of riders that violate these laws, are youth that appear to be under the age of 18,” RCMP said and added parents and guardians are urged to speak to their sons and daughters about proper use. “Fines for violators can easily add up to over $1,000 and the motorized vehicle can be seized,” RCMP said. “In addition, operators and their guardians could be subject to criminal and civil action should an incident take place. Failing to stop for police is a criminal offence.”

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Citizen staff City council passed a bylaw Monday night setting the rates households and businesses will pay for property taxes this year. Owners of residential property will pay $7.34 per $1,000 of assessed value. Although down from $7.60 last year, the owner of a typical home, valued at $300,680, will pay an extra $91 – pushing the bill up to $2,207 – to reflect the 4.3-per-cent increase in the tax levy. For the city’s share of the levy for the Fraser-Fort George Regional District, homeowners will pay $1.06 per $1,000. For the typical home, the bill will be $318, compared to $300

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variance on each of them, a small change in the price of rebar could mean us revisiting many, many different little projects,” he said. “By doing it on the basis of a full operating budget, it still keeps a cap where we’ve never had one before and brings it to council’s attention by guideline.” It was one of a number of changes to the city’s guidelines for managing its finances that council approved on Monday night. — see ‘WE’RE WELL, page 3

Council approves property tax rates

RCMP warn of hefty fines for illegal dirt biking Citizen staff

but once these new guidelines come into place, at $7.5 million we will be getting a report back.” In an interview, Frizzell said requiring staff to come back to council every time a specific expenditure was five per cent over budget would be impractical because of the number of projects the city pursues in a year. “Some of them are quite large but some of them are quite tiny so if you go through on a caseby-case basis for a five-per-cent

last year. Those with homes valued below that level will see a smaller increase while those with homes above that level will see larger increases. Businesses will pay $17.17 to the city and $2.59 to the FFGRD, major industry $53.32 and $3.59, and light industry would pay $27.62 and $3.59, with them accounting for 28.67, 2.82 and 13.2 per cent of the levy respectively. Residential properties account for 67.3 per cent of the city’s total assessed value. Business makes up 26.6, major industry 2.46 and light industry 0.97 per cent. The total levy stands at just under $110 million.

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